A CONTRACT WITH GOD 38 OTHER STORIES

“An essential introductory collection to comics’ most essential figure. Weaving together the works that helped assure comics’ status as a literary medium, the anthology combines Eisner’s slice-of-life masterpieces with an incisive editorial introduction and carefully curated scholarship to provide crucial insight into how comics work, what they mean, and what they can do.” ―Jeremy Dauber, Columbia University and author of American Comics: A History

This Norton Critical Edition includes:

• Jared Gardner’s insightful introduction and explanatory notes.
• Generous selections from four of Will Eisner’s major graphic novels and story collections, carefully chosen with student readers in mind.
• Will Eisner’s interviews and published writing on comics and the graphic novel genre from 1978 to 2000.
• Thirteen wide-ranging reviews and assessments of Eisner’s works.
• Critical essays by Andrew J. Kunka, Paul Williams, Jeremy Dauber, Greg M. Smith, and Derek Parker Royal.
• A chronology of Will Eisner’s life and work and a selected bibliography.

Born in New York City, Will Eisner (1917–2005) was the author of the legendary comic strip The Spirit, as well as fifteen graphic novels and three influential instructional textbooks. The comic industry’s top awards, the Eisner Awards, are named in his honor.

Jared Gardner is Joseph V. Denney Designated Professor of English at The Ohio State University. He is the author of three monographs, including Projections: Comics and the History of 21st-Century Storytelling and The Rise and Fall of Early American Magazine Culture, and he is the editor or coeditor of several volumes, including The Comics of Charles Schulz: The Good Grief of Modern Life. He has worked closely for many years with the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State, including serving as curator on several exhibits.